tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-128032522018-03-06T05:31:21.463ZAaronovitch Watch(incorporating "World of Decency")the managementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462814606739183471noreply@blogger.comBlogger1175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-55685925312658602862011-10-25T09:39:00.002Z2011-10-25T09:45:16.130ZWe watched David Aaronovitch in his prime - another time, another timeAnd so to bed ...The site has been in something close to run-off mode ever since the Times paywall, and we've now clearly reached the point at which the ongoing comments moderation liability is more trouble than it's worth (that's not a passive-aggressive dig at commenters, by the way, sorry - it's just that any responsibly run website is a commitment of time and effort). When we lost Aaro, we the managementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462814606739183471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-80051719618355327872011-10-18T15:40:00.002Z2011-10-18T16:30:08.892ZAnd if you believed Decentiya, I've an Atlantic Bridge you can buy...Or, opportunities to knock Fox, Hague and the 'jobs for the boyfriends' policy.Thanks to Coventarian in the comments to the last post.One of the key donors to Pargav has been Michael Lewis, who is a former vice-chairman of Bicom, an organisation that lobbies on behalf of Israel. He has donated £13,832 to Atlantic Bridge and £5,000 to Fox. Bicom has been linked to Werritty, and paid for the Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-33784277590795439422011-10-01T11:09:00.003Z2011-10-01T11:28:37.801ZThe enemy of my enemy, and all thatHere's an interesting one: Engage Online are giving space to Colin Meade, Lecturer at London Met and Milosevic defender. A google of "Colin Meade" and "Milosevic" shows a few interesting sites around the internet. Meade used to have a blog but it has been removed, but is linked to from places such as (hold your nose before clicking) this. Fortunately, the Internet Archive is our friend and Captain Cabernetnoreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-51616034103294408912011-09-27T10:59:00.002Z2011-09-27T11:37:39.857ZSick with corruption and criminality from top to bottomWe[1] are most amused by this.Ridiculous exaggeration RT @AndrewSparrow Tom Watson says Murdoch empire is "sick with corruption and criminality from top to bottom"And this.@JohnRentoul @tom_watson Well Tom, what's the answer to John's question? What act of criminality can you ascribe to The Times? Name one.Pedantic note: I understand Tom Watson's phrase to mean that some employees and directors Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-49667294703275841912011-09-13T12:28:00.003Z2011-09-13T13:19:40.965ZKrugman scores a hitKrugman on 9/11 and More About the 9/11 Anniversary.Roy Edroso has a round-up of rightblogger responses. (Thanks to Flying Rodent.) There's an accompanying blogpost.Really, I have so much to say on this, I find starting impossible, but if I can cut it down to one thing, I advise anyone who has ever considered claiming to be part of a "war on" anything and anyone else who thinks that belligerence Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-19342755646256744112011-09-07T16:58:00.002Z2011-09-07T17:04:29.289ZAndrew Brown on links to BreivikInteresting piece on links to Breivik. None of our immediately decent friends are mentioned, but people they've consorted with such as Douglas Murray and Gates of Vienna feature fairly prominently.Captain Cabernetnoreply@blogger.com95tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-1711252299407551512011-09-02T07:27:00.002Z2011-09-02T07:30:04.507ZWaggy finger watchEliza Manningham-Buller, former head of MI5, has made a speech in which she rejects the phrase "war on terror" as unhelpful. Elementary induction predicts that the waggy finger of Professor Norm will soon be wagged.Captain Cabernetnoreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-1192278660512385982011-08-19T05:29:00.003Z2011-09-01T06:51:12.928ZSome Cheap LaughsHarry's Place seems to be trolling its own commenters. The current masthead must refer to this post where almost all the comments are hostile. (Although this (real) pic of Geller and Spencer is more sinister.) Now, will they accept that they've created an oasis for loons? (Nope.)
And this is a rather wonderfully percipient post on H'S'JS signatory Michael Gove. As is this (though I suspect this Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com240tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-52617494789989441982011-08-11T18:28:00.002Z2011-08-11T19:14:01.148ZLet Them Eat CakeTitle suggested by Gastro George.
Andrew Sparrow in the Guardian offers a round-up of the commentariat's reaction so far, including David Aaronovitch.
The highest realistic estimate I've seen for rioters in one place was 200, and pictures of that event suggest that it was too high. It also seems that one must make a practical distinction (if not a moral one) between rioters and looters — peopleChardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-21778872933359031182011-08-07T09:57:00.000Z2011-08-07T09:58:58.139ZWith Exemplary TimingTottenham in flames as riot follows protestNo riots here. Just quiet, ever-deeper miseryThe Couscous Kidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13652409541448776277noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-61598378239039735012011-08-03T10:18:00.001Z2011-08-03T10:19:47.339ZJacksonauticaMarko Attila Hoare's not happy with Douglas MurrayThe Couscous Kidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13652409541448776277noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-49400760957663856092011-08-02T08:52:00.002Z2011-08-02T09:33:57.895ZAnd if you like you can buy the ring...Or, Quilliam the third (installment).[T]he world’s first counter-extremism think tank.Here's Noman Benotman [of the] Quilliam Foundation and former key figure in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group talking a Policy Exchange wafflefest (he's the first speaker). He's talking about 'surgical strikes' and the like in Libya, even thought the civil war clusterfuck was inevitable by March.Libyan rebels toChardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-70757705824784630892011-07-28T18:35:00.004Z2011-08-02T08:51:55.873ZAs promised...Someone must have been telling lies about the homosexual community, because one fine day, without having done anything wrong, it was subjected to a vitriolic attack in the Daily Mail.In other words, some more on Mad Mel. How the West was lost (mostly being "I hate everything Pim Fortuyn stood for, apart from hating Muslims"). It's a goldmine for quotes, so weird scenes follow.Almost half of 18 toChardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-20432916510384674032011-07-27T14:40:00.005Z2011-07-27T16:36:34.340ZA post about Melanie PhillipsIt's annoying that Google own both YouTube and Blogger, yet the new YouTube format doesn't fit our template. So, instead of embedding, here's a link.This is Nora, the piano playing cat.This is Melanie Phillips on Monday.Breivik may be one unhinged psychopath – but what is now erupting as a result of the Norway atrocity is the frenzy of a western culture that has lost its mind.My emphasis both Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-87585671834747990342011-07-27T05:29:00.002Z2011-07-27T05:31:39.505ZDo as we say; no hold on, DON'T do as we say - Open ThreadBecause we need one. And I don't have anything to say right now.Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-4721189188983315822011-07-14T19:56:00.003Z2011-07-14T20:37:51.349ZFair and BalancedIn the comments to the last post, Flying Rodent tells us that Dave appeared on Sky News with Adam Boulton in one of those studio talking heads things. All present agreed "that this is all getting a bit out of hand and a bit silly, and we all need to calm down." (FR's paraphrase, using, I assume, the Deborah Orr/Will Self 'we'.)Sky News reporting on this has been very good. Its commentary less so.Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-84450184662041994172011-07-13T08:26:00.003Z2011-07-13T08:35:42.557ZDid you ever wonder what happened to Alan Johnson? No, not that one, the other Alan JohnsonOk then, you didn't. But I did. Don't judge me, it's a hobby.In 2008-10 I have been engaged in consultancy work for the Research, Information and Communications Unit (RICU), which is based in the Office of Security and Counter-Terrorism (OSCT), using social movement theory and in-depth interviewing to examine the dynamics of 'radicalisation' and 'deradicalisation' and effective communications the managementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462814606739183471noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-57295727405670278792011-07-12T11:56:00.004Z2011-07-12T12:16:10.516ZThe surveillance society and Aaro ...A commenter who I can't thank because they're anonymous writes ...To drag this topic onto the blog's raison d'etre, does anyone else think this strikes the death knell for Aaro's Birtist and intrusive approach to personal information? It seems that the people we would trust the most with our info,the police, come out looking corrupted and somewhat incompetent. And of course there's the journalismthe managementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462814606739183471noreply@blogger.com97tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-40468946858386653382011-07-04T16:43:00.002Z2011-07-04T16:57:13.495ZNick Davies strikes again!A bit off-topic for this blog, but IMO excusably so.Some readers may remember that Nick Cohen once apologised to Observer colleague Nick Davies thus.As Mr Davies is undoubtedly a serious journalist, I apologise for any suggestion that he is less than honest and regret any hurt I have inflicted on his feelings. But I should say for the record that although his Flat Earth News website announces Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-64919628333582378832011-06-29T17:45:00.006Z2011-06-29T19:53:36.730ZJournalistic Licence: RevokedBy special request of Justin.Well, given Brownie started this last night. (It's on the second page of comments from the last post, so I can't link to it directly.)Is it okay to piss oneself at Johann Hari's predicament this damp Tuesday evening? Or is this yet more evidence of the 'Decent' penchant for schadenfreude and vindictiveness that you so abhor?I'll be honest: whatever you say, I'll be Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com133tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-63351322905381625742011-06-20T16:38:00.002Z2011-06-20T17:35:32.293ZOff-Topic at LargeI'd just like to say, and this should come as no surprise that I agree with old Aaro[1] on lots of things. One such is his position on assisted dying. But I'll come back to Aaro in a bit.Nick is largely right on Syria. Bashar al-Assad is an appalling dictator. Forgive me for raising a liberal orthodoxy, but I rather like Obama, and besides, I worry that when one attacks a prominent black (ethnic,Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com319tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-820094137033042402011-06-13T19:56:00.003Z2011-06-13T21:11:19.309ZWhen everything jarredNick's piece berating liberals for religious (this time Hindu) intolerance What price freedom of expression now? at least has the merit of being a shorter rehash of his The Hounding of M. F. Husain in Standpoint.In many ways, it's not bad. Something of a blip on Nick's recent run of relatively good form, perhaps, but a long way from the depths of undirected anger he has got away with.The bad Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-54679363022965426022011-06-11T09:49:00.005Z2011-06-11T09:56:40.289ZJohn Lloyd Has Some Advice For His Fellow DecentsHere's John Lloyd, in the FT, reviewing Owen Jones's new book, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class (which sounds excellent, and which I'm keen to read):[Jones] starts, mistakenly, with a middle-class dinner party at which a guest had said: “It’s sad Woolworth’s is closing. Where will all the chavs buy their Christmas presents?” This is a mistake because the middle-class dinner party The Couscous Kidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13652409541448776277noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-48692278280061191862011-06-09T17:47:00.002Z2011-06-09T17:53:43.486Z"Bilderberg" is a really nice word to sayTry it. Bilderberg Bilderberg Bilderberg. Various researchers and profs make the sensible point that although Alex Jones is a tool, the entire point of the Bilderberg Group is that it meets in secret, it's made up of powerful people, and it's meant to discuss matters related to the running of the world. (ie, it's Davos without the pud-knockers, hangers on and self-publicists). But not our the managementhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06462814606739183471noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12803252.post-59476638542274927982011-06-06T16:04:00.002Z2011-06-06T16:29:34.789ZThe Armchair GeneralistWhile Nick is probably right about Simon Schama, his Standpoint tv column is bizarre even for him. As far as I can tell, he regards television as a means of gaining insight into contemporary Britain (the world) and to this end he selects one programme per month and bases a sermon on the approaching end times on it. I also think his premise is wrong: confident, secure, happy people are those most Chardonnay Chaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01275819795032251978noreply@blogger.com13